Marko Nastić to celebrate his two decades long career with RETROSPEKTAKL

Marko Nastić has been one of the most iconic DJs, producers and label owners in the Ex-Yu region for the last two decades. To celebrate this great achievement, Marko has decided to organise a truly unique experience which brought a lot of attention. On 19th May, Hangar Belgrade will host RETROSPEKTAKL - an event that will introduce thirty DJ's who together with Marko Nastić built the domestic scene of electronic music. At the same time, this will Marko's new record in the number of performed back2back sets, since he'll spend 450 minutes (7 hours and a half) on stage, while his guests will be next to his side.

THE CONCEPT OF RETROSPEKTAKL

Musically, the event will start in 1997 and it'll be ended in 2017. Every 20 minutes of the event will translate into one year and within this period of time, Marko and his colleague DJs will play four biggest club hits that marked each year. These are the songs that we all remember well and which will bring back endless memories. While for a bit older ravers this will be a flashback and rebirth of thoughts, the younger generations will have a unique opportunity to experience the atmosphere of good old days. Prior to the event, we've managed to ask Marko Nastić few questions regarding this gathering and his long career.

First of all, we would like to congratulate you on this respectful milestone! How did you come up with the idea of organizing such an event?

Thank you! I'mm probably one of the few who doesn’t mark their career anniversaries yearly; I don’t find that interesting, I’d rather celebrate my birthday :). Considering my age and that I already have 20 years long career behind me, this looked like an interesting venture to me. The event is imagined as a time machine, or well, sort of – it’s a musical journey where I, alongside my 31 DJ colleagues, will play music hits from 1997, until the present days. Uniting all that energy, which connected us for the last 20 years is something that can be a big turning point for me, and hopefully an inspiration for the upcoming generations because it’s important not to forget your musical roots.

Reflecting on these past 20 years, what would you say were some of the biggest challenges that you’ve faced? Did you ever felt like quitting?

The biggest problem was that I started my career in Yugoslavia of the 90's, country where we were deprived of lots of things - like the possibility to buy records, and you couldn’t even dream about getting equipment for the studio. Then there was the problem with obtaining visas, so we couldn’t travel that much. Nowadays those major problems are (thankfully) behind us, but the smaller ones are still there on different levels. For example, it seems that marketing is more important than making quality music - so the most popular DJ is not necessarily the most talented one.

Also, my biggest talent (in my opinion), mixing, has been almost made obsolete due to technology developments, which made it available to non-skilled individuals. These are the things that you get used to and learn to work against them. My love for music is too big, and luckily I haven’t faced any bigger problems that would make me stop working in the industry. But, it’s very important not to have your head in the clouds. If you realize that you don’t fulfil all requirements needed for performing, and you are still attracted to this industry, there are lots of things you can do besides being a DJ that still includes music.

If you compare current electronic music scene with the one when you were first starting out, what changed the most? Do you think that in generally scene is better now?

One part of the answer is in the previous question which concerns technology developments and its influence on music. After all, we are 20 years older and experienced as much. We worked very hard to develop the scene, so there is definitely an improvement. I think there is no better time for making music, with everything so easily accessible.

You’ve performed all over the world, made countless tracks, remixes, curated labels and events, … what keeps Marko Nastić pushing on? Is there anything you haven’t achieved yet when it comes to music?

I cannot imagine doing anything else but this. I’ve been in the industry for a long time, you know? :) Then again, in the past year I got the idea to open and manage the club, and that idea is starting to realise. I started Social Club– weekly event that became really popular. The idea is to move it to a bigger place, and give it its own venue, where it can grow and hopefully make our scene more diverse.

I really enjoy working in the studio and buying new music that inspires me to produce. Of course, like any other artist (or at least the ones that I know), I would like to improve myself and make better tracks. I’ve chosen my style in my early 20’s - lots has changed since then, and so have I, so, with that in mind, I know that there is still a journey ahead for me and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for your time and we wish you a great and successful Retrospektakl!